Tip: Free mobile security and device tracking for your Android device

Think of viruses and malware and you’ll be forgiven in thinking they just apply to Windows platforms. Wrong. Now that the Android platform is the world’s most widely used smartphone and tablet operating system, the poor old green robot is now being targeted from all sides, from the phishing scammers, script kiddies and professional viral code writers alike.

Enter the brilliant avast! Free Mobile Security software for Android. Czech Republic based Avast Software have been producing brilliant antivirus software for many years on both the Windows and Mac platforms. Now they venture to the Android platform and are offering a totally free (and non-time limited) mobile security app for your Android device, available from Google Play store..

Tip: Measure temperatures with your iPhone or iPad

The iPhone and iPad are versatile devices, but one (useful) feature they lack is a temperature sensor which would be able to record temperatures accurately and show the results in real-time under iOS complete with recording trends over time etc with the aid of a nice graph. Just imagine the uses could you have with that.

Well, a new Kickstarter project from Robocat, an innovative Danish company that already has produced decent apps’, has come up with the all new Thermodo. It’s not just an app’, but features a small thermometer which plugs straight into your iPhone or iPad’s headphone jack, giving you instant thermometer recording capabilities..

Astro: Bright Comet alert for northern hemisphere viewers tonight!

Hot on the tail (literally) of the recent Asteroid 2012 DA14 and the russian fireball incident, it looks like 2012 will indeed be the year for these cosmic fireworks! If your in the northern hemisphere you should be able to catch it easily with the naked eye (i.e. no telescope or bino’s) and promises to be the best Comet for quiet a few years.

Called Comet Pan-STARRS or officially C/2011 L4, it should be as bright as a 1st magnitude star for everyone in Europe, North America, Russia, China and the far-east and will reach its closet approach to Earth on 7th March 2013. And if you missed it yesterday, don’t worry, it will be visible for a few more days before reaching its closet approach (perihelion) to the Sun on 10th March in which it may break up. Want to find out how to watch it, then continue reading this post…

WTF: Get a monkey for your Tablet computer

No, not a primate. If you own a tablet, like the popular Google Nexus 7, Kindle Fire, iPad, Galaxy Tab or almost another other wide surface area tablet you’ll know it’s not easy to position without using your hands. Take for example if you’re in the kitchen and your reading a recipe on your favorite device. You know the problem! An awkward reading angle, splashes of water (or flour!), or you just want to read your eBook in bed, hand’s free.

Well, those clever people at Octa have created a robust but stylish flexible coil to hold any tablet, at any angle, above its surface, thus avoiding the pit falls of dirt and grime getting into it and providing the perfect viewing angle, almost anywhere.

News: Outmosphere – Find out what’s on in your neighbourhood

Realtime event applications may not be totally unique, sure we have Google Now which tells us what bus is coming and what the traffic is like and so on. Some of us (especially the youngsters out there!) want more with regard to what’s happening not just in their locale that day, but maybe on a particular date. Enter Outmosphere.com

Outmosphere aims to break the trend by giving anyone instant results on what venues, shows, gigs or almost anything that is happening in the user’s location. So far it’s totally unique and does not need any fiddly app’ to run, just log-in to Outmosphere via your favourite browser on your smartphone, tablet or literary any other device and hey presto, Outmosphere detects your location and presents you with a graphical itenary of whats happening and when..

News: Happy 1st Birthday Raspberry PI – Now in Blue limited edition

Cambridge, UK-based Raspberry, the makers of the top-selling credit card sized bare bones computer, is now one year old and to help celebrate the occasion, Raspberry PI is now in Blue, or to be more precise the PCB is now in a nice hue of Blue, instead of the boring green we’ve come to expect.

However you won’t be able to buy one in this limited to 1,000 pcs edition, instead you’ll have to be entered into the competition that is running from now until June 2013. Key distributor, corby-based RS Components is running the competition right now and already it looks set to receive cult status, especially among the ‘common’ green PI’s out there, enter the free competition now…

WTF: Don’t take the P*SS! New Urine checker App for iPhone

Nope, its not April 1st. Most of us know that a person’s health can be checked when we go to the doctors by a quick sample check of the yellow stuff we supply. Anything from diabetes, urinary tract infection and pre-clampsia to name just a few.

Now, indian-based company, Biosense Technologies Private Limited, has developed an iPhone App called uChek with the aim of using the iPhone’s built-in camera to photograph a freshly dipped ‘reagent strip’, specific colours produced from the freshly dipped strip is interpreted by the iPhone’s camera and the uChek App, as identifying issues in the supplied ‘sample’ or just a clean bill of health!

News: Google to launch its own retail stores this year?

Rumors are high on the fact that search giant Google, will be about to launch its own version of retail outlets in 2013, just like its counterparts, Apple. Although Google already do have some ‘stalls’ in airports in the UK and abroad, this will be the first retail outlets for the search giant.

According to Engadget, Google is looking to heighten its retail presence amongst its retail customers so that it can show-off its Nexus range of smartphones, tablets and the newly revamped Chromebook. It also comes at a time when Google maybe ready to launch other new and exciting hardware, that only a ‘live product demonstration’ can fully justify the product in question, such as the Google Project Glass HUD glasses and the rumored X-phone…

Tip: Bug in iOS 6.1 allows anyone to bypass a locked iPhone

The iPhone is a cool device. You’ll happily store all your contacts and other details, and if your like me, sometimes forget were you’ve left it. Not a good idea. A recently discovered bug (yes, another one!) found in iOS 6.1 apparently allows any iPhone model, including the latest iPhone 5 running the iOS 6.1 operating system to by-pass the password lock!

Apple have now acknowledged the bug, so if you are running iOS 6.1, especially if you have sensitive data, you’ll be advised to keep checking the Apple website for a posted update that Apple will sure put forward to all of you. To see how easy the button combination is on your iPhone in allowing a hacker to by-pass the password screen, read on..

Astro special: Earth Asteroid is at its closest today. Watch it online here!

Last week I posted a blog on the soon to arrive Asteroid 2012 DA14. Well, today, Friday 15th February 2013 it’s finally here, or shall I say, its closest approach to our Earth. It’s now nearer to us than many communications satellites in Earth orbit and tumbling around at a mind-blowing 20,000 mph.

If it’s a clear night you might just spot a glimpse of the huge rock, around 150 feet wide and will approach Earth at a ‘tiny’ 17,000 miles, in astronomical terms this is right up close. And if you want to get up close and personal to Asteroid 2012 DA14 check out the this blog for a live video feed of the rock, coming to its closest approach 19:24 hrs GMT or 2.24pm EST today..